Oxford University Press to publish leading evolutionary biology journals

New agreement with the Society for the Study of Evolution and the European Society of Evolutionary Biology will help drive open access publishing and increase the reach of cutting-edge evolutionary biology research

Oxford, England, 07 October 2022: Oxford University Press (OUP) is pleased to announce a new agreement with the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) to publish its journal Evolution, and Evolution Letters, which is jointly owned by the European Society of Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) and SSE. As part of the agreement, OUP will focus on driving growth and supporting the sustainability of Evolution and Evolution Letters while maintaining the high quality and reputation of the high-impact publications. The contract will come into effect from 01 January 2023.

The peer-reviewed scientific journal Evolution publishes articles spanning all areas of evolutionary biology with the aim of broadening understanding of evolutionary phenomena and processes at all levels of biological organization. With an Impact Factor of 4.171 and ranked in the second quartile of the Evolutionary Biology category in the Journals Citation Report (JCR), Evolution is a high-impact journal with an excellent reputation in the field.

Evolution Letters is a fully open access journal publishing cutting-edge new research in all areas of evolutionary biology and has an Impact Factor of 6.494, placing it in the top quartile of journals in the Evolutionary Biology category of the JCR.

Speaking about the agreement, Jennifer Paxton-Boyd, Publishing Director at OUP, said: “We are delighted to welcome Evolution and Evolution Letters to OUP, and are thrilled to partner with the Society for the Study of Evolution and the European Society for Evolutionary Biology. As the world’s largest university publisher of open access research and with a journal portfolio now exceeding 500, we’re excited to contribute our expertise to support the future of both these prestigious titles.”

Tracy Chapman, Editor-in-Chief of Evolution, said: “We selected OUP as our new publisher based on its strong history of publishing society journals and look forward to working with them on key initiatives to strengthen and grow our international reputation for publishing. Through our partnership, we aim to continue to lead advances in evolutionary biology, deliver a positive author experience, widen our global reach, and support our community in an inclusive way.”

Astrid Groot, President of ESEB, added: “The ESEB is excited to be partnering with Oxford University Press in the strategic development of Evolution Letters, who will be supporting us as we take the journal on the next step of its journey.”

About the Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press publisher of open research. It publishes over 100 fully open access journals, more than 200 open access monographs, and offers an open access publishing option on over 500 journals. The Press publishes almost 2,000 OA articles per month across all major subject areas.

Oxford University Press has been publishing journals for more than a century and has more than 500 years of publishing expertise.

About the Society for the Study of Evolution

The Society for the Study of Evolution was founded in 1946. The objectives of the Society for the Study of Evolution are the promotion of the study of organic evolution and the integration of the various fields of science concerned with evolution. The Society publishes the scientific journal Evolution and co-publishes Evolution Letters along with the European Society of Evolutionary Biology. SSE also holds annual meetings in which scientific findings on evolutionary biology are presented and discussed.

About the European Society of Evolutionary Biology

The European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) is an academic society that brings together more than 1400 evolutionary biologists from Europe and the rest of the world – researchers, lecturer, students, as well as journalists and other persons interested in evolution. The Society supports the study of organic evolution. In addition to their journal publications, the society organizes a biannual congress and supports other events to promote advances in evolutionary biology. ESEB also supports activities to promote a scientific view of organic evolution in research and education.